Sakura-san,

An unfortunate accident arose after Naruto-kun fought against Hokage-sama over the privilege of writing this letter. A further series of obstreperous events caused my foolish little brother and other suitable candidates to decline the honor as well. So pardon the sloppiness of this letter as I summarize the sentiments of everyone on paper: please return soon.

To put bluntly, your absence is causing mayhem within this village. From what I hear, in two weeks, the lower shopping district has been reduced to a crater, a frog infestation has hit the Hokage tower, and fifteen doctors have suffered from severe epileptic shock via exposure to illegal, intense ocular hallucinations – I apologize; I did not set a proper example and will take responsibility for this one.

I cannot say I do not miss your company either, but I hope you are sparing time from your mission to enjoy yourself. Your former letter is amusing, and I can imagine the New World is an intriguing place to explore and learn. Seize the opportunities.

Please work at your own pace, and do not rush. Konohagakure will learn a valuable lesson in patience.

Sincerely,

Uchiha Itachi

P.S. You picked a delightful carrier bird, and the name is appropriate. It will be our pleasure to work with Sesu-chan from now on.

Sesu finishes gobbling down the mountain of seeds in the petri dish, then hops onto the disaster of a desk, with open book buried under open book. He cocks his head at the myriad of symbols and illegible scribble.

Then, a gush of wind from outside has pages flipping and notes flying, of which Sesu dives down and catches with his beak. More wind from outside, and the first drops of rain makes contact with the leaves above. With some effort, Sesu pushes down on wooden boards. They seal the window. He does the same for the other window.

Then, in the darkness, he nests himself amidst the disorder of research notes, tucks in his head, and takes a much-deserved nap.


Curious, Sakura inserts the bud in her ear and presses the wheel several times until there is a deafening boom. She yanks the earbud away and fights the urge to smash the contraption to bits.

A salesman in a blue collared shirt slides over and flashes a bright smile. "You, miss, are looking at the state of the art iPod Mini. Fits right in your palm. Four gigs, eight hours of listening, and look, click wheel! Absolutely revolutionary, the start of a new generation I say."

"If by that, he means Apple will release a new 'generation' every lousy year, sure," mumbles a voice two aisles down.

Sakura nods, not understanding a word out of the salesman's mouth, and slips away when he is not looking. She decides these radio devices are not for her. She treks over to the computer department and glances at the models of monitors. A laptop catches her eye.

Before she could touch a single key, the salesman appears in a poof of genie smoke and flashes his dentally perfect teeth yet again. "Interested in business? Law school? A portable computer may be just for you. Get modem, wireless card, wifi. Forget home computers, laptops are the way to the future. So you interested in this Compaq? Well, you've got the latest operating system, Windows XP Pro, Intel Celeron 1.3 GHz, 128 meg memory, a whole whopping 60 gigs of hard drive..." He rambles on, stroking through the keys and opening window after window, the cursor hectic.

"He's trying to sell her that. HP crashes a month after the warranty expires, conveniently enough, and that twenty pound thing is hardly portable," hisses a voice two aisles down.

"Dude, the HP crashed against a wall after Rosalie threw it there. I was there, she was hot, and you might know cars, but you know nothing about computers so stop talking like you do," says a second voice two aisles down.

The salesman continues on about the 17 inch LCD and battery as Sakura backs away. "I will not be here now," she uncomfortably says, skedaddling away.

Approximately two seconds later, she nearly drops the camera in her hands when the same optimistic voice booms, "Excellent choice. 35mm SLR, the Nikon N75 was just released last year and features-"

"Mister." Sakura has enough and decides to put him to good use. "This takes picture?"

"Well, it's a camera!"

"I press button, and it takes picture, correct?" Sakura confirms.

The salesman eagerly takes the camera out of her hands and points. "You get whatever you see in this small window."

"How do I take picture out?"

"This is a film camera. You can get prints at many of the services here. Though you might prefer digital. I'd recommend the Canon PowerShot. Digital shots are about as crisp as film nowadays, maybe even better."

Sakura furrows her eyebrows. Digital? From her practiced simulations, Kakashi and Kurenai never mentioned anything about that. Then again, they never mentioned anything about small musical devices nor laptops either. This world is changing too fast, and it is making her head spin.

"Digital means it will require computer?"

"Yup, upload it, share it with friends, print it out, whatever. Here, let me show you the PowerShot." He snatches a silver box, about a third of the size of the former camera, randomly directs, clicks, and shows Sakura a screen with the interior of the Best Buy, with faint traces of coppery hair and a baseball cap peaking over a counter in the background.

Concealing her amazement, Sakura points to the screen and asks, "No film?"

"Nope. All on the SD card, 16 meg."

"Amazing," Sakura mutters, then swallows at the price tag.

"16 meg? That salesman has some nerve trying to swindle her," grits the boy behind the counter. In response, Emmett throws his head back in surrender, and Sakura decides she is done.

While the salesman is on his verbal rampage, fingers twiddling with every button and and gear on the camera, she slips out of the Best Buy and merges in with the mall crowd. Signs, stands, mannequins. Bells, giant radiant snowflakes, beads of light in large trees.

Edward at school and the hospital is one thing, but Sakura has never imagined that he will follow her all the way to Seattle. She regrets letting him coax out her winter plans the week before, because Seattle is where she makes her trips to the library and bookstores, a nice, liberating atmosphere of pure reading... and if he starts tagging her there, they are about to have some serious problems.

"Sakura-chan!"

Months without honorific has thrown her off. Sakura whips around, expecting to see a green flak jacket and headband.

Instead, standing before her is a small girl, with a boney frame, feathers of hair, and clear, laughing eyes. Purposely mismatched stockings, lopsided red hat, multifarious shopping bags strapped up her arms.

"Fancy seeing you here, Sakura-chan," she giggles. "Christmas shopping too?"

Sakura furrows her eyebrows, remembering her face, a girl from school, but... "I am sorry, your name..."

"Oh! Alice," Alice introduces, giving a twirl, then a bounce of a curtsey. The light, fairy grin never once fading from her face. "Sister of Edward."

"Alice, I-"

"Call me Alice-chan," the girl urges.

Strange request, but Sakura complies. "Ah, Alice-chan, yes I wish to buy items. Prices appear more cheap..."

Here, more mirthful giggles. "You are new to this, aren't you, Sakura-chan? Prices are actually up, up, up!" Alice throws her arms in the air, the shopping bags sliding down. "Prices skyrocket, then they slash in the discounts – thirty, fifty, seventy percent! It looks cheaper, but the net price is more expensive!"

"Is that so..." Sakura does not have much reference to support nor dispute Alice's claim. She has never put mind to prices, as there are far too many to memorize, but she has noticed more discount offers, red and green signs plastered all over. Now that school is on break, she assumes the opportune time has come to buy the plethora of things on her wish list.

Alice's voice breaks her out of her thoughts. "Still, if you're smart, you can strike a delicious deal," she says, a finger on her lip, eyes winking. "Would you like to Christmas shop together, Sakura-chan? It is lonely by myself, but Jasper insists on surprising me this time, Rosalie is too caught up in the shoes department, and Santa knows what became of my other brothers."

Sakura resists the urge to point to the electronics store, where said brothers are still looking for her, sneaking behind aisles and counters while slapping at each other in a boyish brawl.

Speaking of which, she should get moving lest she wishes to be found again. It would be nice to shop without Edward's commentaries every other second.

"Okay," Sakura says.

So, with much giddy and glee, added with a tint of elfish sadism, Alice grabs Sakura's wrist and ringos her through a hundred different changing rooms. Before Sakura knows it, she is standing before a full body mirror, garnished head to toe in ribbons, lace, and pink, scorching eyeballs off with exuberant amounts of raw, unadulterated femininity.

As Alice leans her head on Sakura's shoulder, a content smile on her face, Sakura stares at herself with a mixed expression of incredulity and morbid fascination, her right eyelid twitching compulsively as she pokes the maxi-padded, push-up bra under her ridiculously frilly blouse.

"Ano, Alice-chan..."

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

A pause.

"I like this!"

Meanwhile, back outside the Best Buy, Edward and Emmett are still debating the validity of Edward's hypothesis on Sakura's vampirism.

"...besides driving really fast, she has done nothing to remotely suggest she's a vampire."

"No parents. A home we are unaware of. Students shy around her presence."

"She's a foreign exchange student. No duh, Sherlock."

"About that, do you not find it strange for a girl from Japan to be technology ignorant?"

"Ever watch My Neighbor Totoro? It's called rural areas and rice fields. Y'know, where they make the rice they eat."

"Do you not find it strange for a girl with no car to have came to Seattle by herself?"

"Public transportation."

"That would take at least three transfers and over fifteen hours."

"Hitchhiked. Oh, and she eats."

"An act. I will 'eat' as well to avoid suspicion."

"Eyes are green."

"Contacts."

"No one's dying."

"That we know of. Or maybe she's vegetarian."

"Vampire working at a hospital?"

"Carlisle's doing it. And so am I. Now, all of that, coupled with the incident in the woods..."

"Fine, there's a possibility she's a vegetarian, humanitarian vampire who probably knows we're vampires too, but has decided to avoid confrontation and let there be peace."

"Exactly."

A pause. "What's the problem again?"

"She may be a vampire."

"WE are vampires!" Emmett pounds on his chest. "Okay, okay. At this rate, this girl can be a ninja-pirate-robot from outer space for all I care. As long as she doesn't bother us, then I'm not bothering her, especially not with more of this stupid surveillance you've talked me into. It's been..." He looks at his naked wrist. "Over a month, and there has been nothing threatening about her."

That is when a third voice chirps up. "Sakura-chan is from outer space?"

They turn around see their sister by their side, poking her head into their conversation.

"Alice?" Edward asks. "I thought you were with Jasper."

"Poo, he left me for Switzerland to get my present, which will be a 18K rose gold watch. Please don't tell him I peeked again. I wanna practice my surprise face. Sooo, I went shopping with Sakura-chan instead!" Alice giggles, holding up all the additional shopping bags hanging off her arms.

"What!" Edward and Emmett exclaim.

"Anything suspicious?" Edward demands. "Is she one of us?"

"Or an alien?" Emmett bites sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Their sister blinks. "Well," she drawls. "I've learned Sakura-chan is 1.625 meters, 31-24-33, double A, and yet, amazingly, size 9 for feet. I also understand she really likes books, technology, sweet things, and the color pink!"

A silence.

"Okay then!" Emmett says enthusiastically, patting his brother. "You're definitely right, Edward. A total vampire. Now when this pink vampire chick begins threatening your life with her books and candies, gimme a call!" At that, he marches away, saluting with a wave of his cap.

Which leaves Edward with his smiling sister.

"So, Alice..."

"Hm?"

"You mind repeating those measurements again...?"


Dear Itachi-san,

Remind me to ask you for calligraphy lessons on top of genjutsu lessons later.

The New World is more amazing than I previously thought. Their innovations are advancing exponentially, their forms of networks and telecommunications unfathomable. They are in a frightening era of nanotechnology and digitalization, and I cannot, absolutely cannot, stop reading of them or dissecting their instruments.

Of course, medicine comes before all else, and I am progressing well. The New World provides archives of billions of ailments and respective treatments to the point that I am inclined to believe your condition has already been recognized here. If so, that expedites everything significantly, and if a cure has been also established... well, that is my optimism speaking.

In the letter prior, I have mentioned a celebration of this country named Thanksgiving. This time, I would like to introduce Christmas. It is a celebration in favor of the birth of their Messiah of the predominate clan. Various smaller clans follow other rituals regarding candle lights or feasting or the like. As there is much disputes from book to book of the exact context of Christmas, I will only cite my basic observations:

It is of the wintertime.

It is of a red and green theme.

It is a time people dress more oddly than usual.

It is a time of familial reunions and eating.

It is customary to purchase gifts for family and exchange them.

Shops increase prices, mainly because of point above.

I think.

Itachi-san, I honestly do not understand how any of this is relevant to the birth of a Messiah, but my lunch break is almost over, and I shall continue this letter – and further any analysis – later.

A bag is placed on the table. "Merry Belated Christmas."

Sakura lowers her pen and greets her co-intern with a smile. "You too."

Edward settles across from her in the hospital cafeteria and slides the bag closer to her. "For you. I would have given it earlier, but I missed you last time." As usual, he begrudgingly thinks. The girl has tricky habit of disappearing.

Sakura furrows her eyebrows at the bag, tilting it a little to see an assortment of red and green wrapping paper.

"I am not family," Sakura says, confused by the gesture.

By all technicalities, an extended family. Extended vegetarian vampire family, Edward thinks.

Or rather, he wants to be believe Sakura is a fellow vampire. To him it is the most logical explanation for the mysteries – the woods, the disappearing, the lack of family. That, and he is having a hard time grasping how a girl is beating him in academia and medical research. Seriously, he went to Harvard for Christ's sake, and yet, she is processing everything Carlisle says faster than he can absorb them.

Edward rubs the back of his neck. "No, but we see each other every day and..." He gives a superfluous hand wave and ends with, "It's nothing big."

Much to his discomfort, Sakura continues to eye him suspiciously.

"Edward," Sakura begins. "It has been two months since I have met you, and I understand we have had miscommunication. Just for clarity before I over-analyze, and we reach polar conclusions... are you romantically attracted to me?"

The response suggests a heimlich maneuver is in order, which neither confirms nor denies Sakura's hypothesis.

"Sorry... cold, winter..." Edward fakes a cough, clutching his throat. "Ah no, no, I'm afraid I don't quite see how you have reached such a conclusion."

Well, a constant, conscious presence by her side, and enthusiastic insistence on following her form a good basis. Of the sample population of Forks, behaviors around her have been mostly consistent – nonapproachingly neutral – with exceptions made for three Cullen members, Edward being the most prominent as of yet. However, there exists alternative explanations for Edward's abnormality past teenage romance.

Romance is wistful thinking. Likelihood of attraction is correspondent with quantity of attraction, and no one else in Forks has given the remotest sign of attraction. Sakura is not surprised, but that is not to say she is not disappointed. Romance would have explained so much, and now she is back to square one.

"I see," Sakura sighs, which makes Edward wonder why and starts conjuring up theories of her attraction to him. "In any case, I have reserved gift for you as well."

Edward's attraction theories spike through the roof when he Sakura pull out of her bag a yellow envelope.

"What is it?"

"You shall see," Sakura says, pulling out a plastic-contained contraption out of all the wrapping paper. "Kodak Disposable Camera," she reads, unable to hide her surprise.

"Alice told me you were looking at cameras," he says, then takes a look at the bundle of papers within his envelope.

His mouth falls ajar. "You're giving me AIDS?"

Click.

Sakura lowers her camera and reels the film. "Yes," she says. "Your research on malignant neoplasia is too unfocused and completely routeless. You lack breadth to fully understand it, and in depth, the Tsinghua University of China has recently published findings of proteins you are questioning. Ultimately, I am assisting you in finding different mission."

"So you're giving me AIDS," Edward repeats.

"It is pandemic, is it not?" Sakura says, furrowing her eyebrows. "Thirty million is significant number, and I am concerned by the lack of missions assigned by your government for this issue. I have not ignored it since my studies in immune-deficiency, so I have outlined a basis for the areas of pursuits within AIDS."

Not to mention the existence of such a disease seriously hinders Sakura's search for partners. She wants to hook up, not die. Also Edward's cancer research is not going anywhere, and she wants him preoccupied with something not relevant to her research.

"Do you not like your present?"

"Ah, no... AIDS... it's just what I wanted for Christmas."

"Oh, one more thing..."

From her bag, she pulls out a package of raw liver she bought from the local market. "You are anemic, I believe. Pale, bad blood flow. Liver helps with problem, better so than blood foods, though I have no say for bizarre American rituals."

She returns his disbelief with a smile. Christmas is a wondrous time to establish peace treaties.


Sakura looks at the series of photographs in her hands. Of Forks and Seattle, numerable interesting objects, and Edward's face upon seeing her Christmas present. New Years provided beautiful lights and scenery too.

Sesu hops on her shoulder, examining the photos, as Sakura rolls them up along with all her letters.

"Sesu-chan, it's a bit heavy this time," she says in her native tongue, inserting the papers into the hollow tube on his back. "You think you can manage?"

A full body shake, head to tail, and a flap of wings.

Sakura slides up the windows, the early morning rays hitting her desk and face.

"If you say so. It'll be less cold over the water, and Konoha will await for you with a feast."

An eager chirp, hop onto the windowsill, then flight.

"Bye!"

Meanwhile, Sakura seasons more of Naruto's ramen powder over her fish and finishes breakfast. Then, after checking her hair is under henge, she sets off for school.

Only to realize she is not the first student to arrive when she spots, or rather, hears, something pulling up into the parking lot. There is a giant roar, hack, stutter, as a monstrous, dirty-orange truck rolls in. As silly as it is, Sakura momentarily thinks Naruto may have tumbled in, chased her a thousand miles just to bring her back.

But the driver is not Naruto, only a brunette girl in a grey sweatshirt, her face mostly concealed by hair. Sakura keeps her eye on the truck until the roar exhausts with a wheeze and the brunette steps out. But by then, Sakura has already entered the building, the door shut behind her.

Ten minutes into Calculus, Sakura has the pleasure of learning the girl's name – Isabella Swan – in between pages of her book, since the entire class does not have any other topic to discuss on the sidelines. The rest of her schedule proceeds as usual, exchanging her daily greeting with her deskmate, reading their respective books – Edward is now on his nth rereading of the Dummies, and walking together to Government and English.

In Spanish, the new transfer girl from Arizona named Isabella (Bella) Swan, who is the lone daughter of policeman Charlie Swan, and highly popular due to a combination of good looks and airs of the novel, as Sakura learns from unintentional eavesdrop, settles in a seat at the back of class. Sakura remains engaged in her book, repeating "Hace frío," or "Está llivioso," or "Hace viento," along with everyone else.

Lunch, no change. Excellent time to toss out a salad of mental vomit and wild guesses before she forgets them.

Biology II is when things change, and tumble into catastrophic levels.

It happens from a series of angles, but the initial trigger begins with a chair.

Or lack of.

Biology II is a laboratory classroom, with one lab table each consisting of two seats. It just so happens Sakura claimed the last one beside Edward, leaving Isabella (Bella) Swan lacking a seat, something the people in charge of scheduling has overlooked, never expecting two transfer students within a year. Therefore, Mr. Banner comes up with the ingenious idea of giving Isabella (Bella) Swan a temporary seating until she can be switched out of the class and have her schedule reworked.

A temporary seat is, very simply, a fold-up chair stored in the closet at the very back of the classroom, which happens to be behind the seat of Sakura.

Isabella (Bella) Swan, as Sakura learns within a decisecond of the struggling noise, is not capable of extracting this chair out by herself without dealing bodily harm to herself and everyone around her. Thus, Sakura settles down her book in favor of assisting Isabella (Bella) Swan, and it is only when she has unfolded the chair and presented it to her that Sakura has her first real look at the girl.

And in her absolute shock, Sakura feels her hormone levels spike up the roof, because she has never in her life seen anyone with such a face of pure averageness.

For those unaware of attraction theories, human beings are, by nature, attracted to mates with a predominance of average features, which are advantageous in survival and reproduction, as opposed to unusual or unique features, which are often considered disadvantageous mutants in terms of natural selection. Therefore, no one wants, say, a girl with a giant forehead, tanned skin, red hair, and other unusual foreign traits not commonly found within the culture. But everybody in Forks will be interested in the iconic representation of the average Forks girl – delicate, translucent skin, doe eyes, soft brown hair.

And Isabella (Bella) Swan is the epitome of a Forks girl, from the unexposed and vulnerable structure to the clumsy, endearing behavior to the grey sweatshirt that blends perfectly with the solemn weather. And man, Sakura cannot look away from that blessed facial symmetry, not a blemish in place.

In short, Isabella (Bella) Swan is pretty. Pretty enough for Sakura to push away all her books and research notes to Edward's side of the table, and slide the chair next to her own seat, beckoning the girl to her throne in a warm gesture.

Because Sakura is interested, having found herself a very beautiful, non-threatening person with whom she can build a very normal relationship, maybe gaining a shot at the normal teenage romance she has wanted since forever. And the fact that this girl is new, and that Sakura has the chance for a good first impression, make everything all the more excellent.

"Hello, my name is Sakura. You must be Bella," she introduces. "Would you like to seat with me?"

Bella is taken aback and barely manages to force a single word out – "Um..." – when she subconsciously shuffles her hair. There is a breeze from the closing of a Biology textbook, and Sakura's eyes widen, startled by sudden spike in murderous intent radiating next to her.

And there is action.

And there is counteraction.

And it all ends with Sakura slamming Edward into the classroom floor, hard, holding him in a single-handed choke hold, her kunoichi instincts on high alert, and Edward... Edward, having the remaining air knocked out of him, cannot take Bella's scent perforating anymore, reaches up, and decides to inhale a deep breath...

… from Sakura's mouth.

All before an audience of nineteen students plus one teacher.